


Porcupine Quills

by iaminarage



Series: On The Right Track [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-24
Updated: 2013-05-24
Packaged: 2017-12-12 20:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/815476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iaminarage/pseuds/iaminarage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian is a closet Broadway fan. Adam can't figure out what to make of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Porcupine Quills

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is an official apology to [thetemptedfates](http://thetemptedfates.tumblr.com/)s for [Such Selfish Prayers](http://iaminarage.tumblr.com/post/50851848938/such-selfish-prayers-masterlist) which may have caused her some mild emotional trauma. Basically I had to bribe her with Sebadam to finish it. But YOU SHOULD STILL READ IT. (Self promotion tangent)
> 
> Thanks to [loveinisolation](http://loveinisolation.tumblr.com) and [beachblainers](http://beachblainers.tumblr.com/) for reading through this and making some edits.

Adam was still blinking when he walked up to the Music Box Theatre at 6:30am. He’d been awake for an hour already, but he still wasn’t over having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. He’d somehow become addicted to coffee since moving to New York, and he hadn’t had a chance to grab any before making his way to the theatre. 

When he made it to the door, he saw that there was only one person in line ahead of him. He congratulated himself on his near perfect timing and then set his bag down against the wall. The boy already in line didn’t acknowledge his arrival in any way. His face was buried intently in an introductory architecture textbook from which he was taking detailed notes. Seeing someone studying so seriously at 6:30am on a Saturday was notable, even when sitting in line for rush tickets. Adam was a graduate student, and even he wasn’t willing to do any work this early.

Adam sat down and pulled his book out of his bag. He knew that he was going to fall asleep out here if he tried to read this early so instead he turned to try chatting with the other boy. He didn’t exactly look welcoming, but most people Adam met in these lines turned out to be friendly, so he figured it was worth a try.

“Studying at 6:30am on a Saturday? That’s awfully ambitious,” Adam said, jovially.

The boy didn’t look up at him. “Oh, excellent. Is this the part where we have to make small talk because we’re trapped out here together?”

“Yeah, pretty much!” The boy certainly was prickly, but Adam had never been one to let go of someone who seemed like they might be interesting to talk to just because they were a bit rough around the edges.

The other boy sighed and closed the textbook, leaving his finger in it as a place marker, and looked up at Adam. Now that he was looking up, Adam could see that he was hot. _Really hot,_ if he was being honest.

“I’m studying architecture at Columbia. If you aren’t ahead, you’re already behind,” he finally replied in a bored tone of voice.

Adam laughed and filed away the fact that they went to the same school. “Who are you quoting?”

“My peer advisor. An exhausting man. Even more exhausting than you, probably,” the boy— Adam had decided to think of him as Hot Architecture Student since he was guessing he’d have to work up to asking for a name— leaned his head back against the wall of the theatre behind them and closed his eyes for a moment. “He’s incredibly energetic,” he said by way of explanation. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t sleep and doesn’t have any hobbies that aren’t architecture.”

“And you do?” Adam asked, deciding to ignore the comment about how exhausting he apparently already was. He had a feeling that exhausting this particular person might be rather enjoyable, actually.

Hot Architecture Student opened his eyes and blinked at Adam as if he couldn’t believe the stupidity of the person he was being forced to talk to. “I’m sitting in line for Pippin tickets alone at 6:30 in the morning, aren’t I?”

Honestly, Adam had been starting to suspect that this guy wasn’t even aware that he was sitting in a Broadway rush line. He didn’t seem like any theatre fan Adam knew.

“Why are you sitting in line for Pippin tickets alone at 6:30 in the morning?” Adam asked. He was only becoming more curious the more the other boy spoke.

“I’m a closet musical theatre fan. I try not to discuss my taste issues in front of people lest it lower their opinion of me.”

Adam quirked an eyebrow at Hot Architecture Student. He couldn’t even begin to decide whether that comment was supposed to be serious or sarcastic.

Hot Architecture Student obviously noticed his confusion. “It’s difficult to find anyone in an architecture department who wants to give up any sleep to go watch musicals.”

“Except you,” Adam replied. Enough of these almost informative answers and he might have an idea of what was actually going on with this guy.

“Except me. My mother used to play Broadway cast albums constantly when I was little, and apparently it rubbed off,” he answered, sighing again. “I’ve never forgiven her for it. It’s really working against my attempt to embody as few gay stereotypes as possible.”

Adam laughed at this. The boy was funny, definitely, in an asshole kind of way. Adam still couldn’t tell if this was intentional or if he was serious. Adam also mentally filed away the confirmation that Hot Architecture Student was gay. It wasn’t the reason that he’d started the conversation, but it certainly made things more interesting.

“Why are you sitting in line for Pippin tickets alone at 6:30 in the morning?” The question startled Adam. It was the first time the other boy had asked him anything.

“It turns out that it’s also hard to get the stage management graduate students at Columbia out of bed at the crack of dawn on Saturday. And even harder to get them to agree to see a show on one of their few free Saturday nights all semester,” he answered.

Just then, two girls walked up to them. “Is this the line for Pippin rush?” one of them asked.

Hot Architecture Student rolled his eyes so Adam figured he’d better answer the question. “Yep, that’s us!”

“Oh good,” the girl said, “We meant to be here at 6 and didn’t quite get up in time. I was so worried the line would be too long already!”

The other girl interrupted her friend. “Aimee, I’m going to go grab the coffee. Can you hold down the fort?”

“Sure,” the first girl responded with a smile and then turned back to Adam. “I’m Aimee and this is Jacqui.”

She held out a hand to him and he shook it. “Adam,” he replied, “and this is … actually I don’t know him.”

“I’ve been trying to keep it that way,” Hot Architecture Student said. Adam noticed that the bored tone had returned to the boy’s voice.

“So you don’t have a name?” Aimee said. “That’s tragic! It must be so hard to go through life like that. Tell us more!”

Adam laughed. Aimee’s attitude was so earnest that it was completely clear that she was making fun of the boy next to him.

He glared at her. “Sebastian,” he finally replied, as if it was a challenge.

Aimee grinned at her victory and plopped down, pulling out an ipod. Jacqui looked over at Adam and said, “Would either of you like coffee? I’m just going over to Junior’s.”

“Good lord, yes please. Get me the largest coffee possible with cream and sugar?” Adam said with a sigh. He was pretty sure he was going to need coffee if he was going to keep trying to converse with Hot Architecture student—Sebastian, he remembered, and wasn’t that an interesting name.

“I’m good,” Sebastian said, gesturing at a giant thermos that Adam hadn’t noticed before.

Jacqui bounced off across the street as Adam looked at the thermos. “I’m not even sure if I’m impressed or terrified.”

“I’m an _architecture student_ ,” Sebastian replied. “If I make it to my sophomore year, I get a direct IV of caffeine.”

Adam snorted. “Something to aspire to then.”

“You never told me why you were here,” Sebastian said, abruptly.

“Of course I did.” Adam side-eyed him.

“You told me why you were here _alone_. Not why you were here at all. It’s not the same,” Sebastian replied, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

Adam thought back over his answer and realized that Sebastian was right although he was quite surprised that the other boy had been paying so much attention. Perhaps he was making an impression after all.

“A friend of mine just joined the ensemble and it’s far cheaper to get rush tickets than to use the cast and crew discount,” Adam explained.

Sebastian nodded. “I’m supposed to be learning to ‘manage my finances’,” he said sarcastically, “which is meaningless because it’s still not like I work. But, nevertheless, I’m on a budget. This is the cheapest way to feed my embarrassing habit.”

Jacqui returned then and handed Adam his very large coffee. He thanked her and gave her some cash.

“So both of you came here alone?” She said, sitting down and handing Aimee her food.

“Yep,” Adam replied, since Sebastian clearly wasn’t going to. He seemed to have accepted talking to one overly enthusiastic theatre person this morning but three might be too much for him. “Apparently neither of us has any friends who want to get up before the sun to sit on the sidewalk in Time’s Square.”

Jacqui laughed. “Well, thank goodness you found each other, then! Clearly you’ll have to be friends. You can be partners in crime.”

Sebastian gave her an incredulous look. “I don’t want to be friends with him,” he said, indignantly. “I’ve only known him for half an hour, and he’s already ridiculously irritating!”

Adam just grinned. He may have only known Sebastian for half an hour, but he was starting to get a sense of when he was protesting too much. “Have you ever liked anyone after knowing them for only half an hour?” he asked.

“Only if there were orgasms involved.” Sebastian muttered.

The other three all laughed at this. Aimee was laughing so hard that she had to hide her face in her hands. Sebastian just looked grumpy.

“Well,” Jacqui said, still laughing, “I don’t recommend you try that here. Very tacky. But you do have three more hours to get to know each other and see if you decide you can tolerate him, Sebastian.”

Sebastian just looked at the three of them like they were nuts. “I understand nothing about you people,” he said as a response.

Adam winked at him, eliciting a scowl in return, “Well, perhaps you’ll understand me after we spend the next three hours talking!”

“I have to study!” Sebastian said, gesturing to the book he was still holding.

“You have the next four years to study,” Adam replied, as he plucked the book out of Sebastian’s hands and passed it off to Aimee.

Sebastian crossed his arms and glared at Adam. Adam thought he might have been concerned if he believed that Sebastian was really upset but his anger really seemed like it was all for show.

“So, Sebastian, where are you from?” Adam continued.

Sebastian looked over at Aimee and Jacqui who were looking at him expectantly and then back at Adam, who was failing at containing his grin. He shook his head, seeming to accept defeat. “Ohio, unfortunately. What about you?” He rolled his eyes as he asked the question, as if he had no interest in the actual answer.

“We’re from New Jersey,” Aimee answered for the two girls.

“Of course you are,” Sebastian answered derisively.

“I’m from Essex,” Adam replied. “In the UK.”

“Yes, well, that would explain the accent.” Sebastian replied, obviously annoyed with Adam’s clarification.

Adam just laughed at him again and then dropped his voice to a fake seductive tone. “Why? Is it working for you?” He said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Nothing about this is working for me!” Sebastian said, throwing up his hands in frustration.

Adam patted his shoulder in sympathy. “You’ll get used to it. We’ve got years of early mornings ahead of us now that it’s been decided that we’re rush ticket buddies!”

Sebastian buried his face in his hands as Adam continued to pat his back. He turned to look back at the girls and grinned.

The next three hours were going to be _fun_.

**Author's Note:**

> End notes: This is going to be included in a series called "On the Right Track”. I do have some other ideas bouncing around in my head for this, so we shall see what happens. (That’s a reference, 10 points to your house if you get it, by the way.) The title is actually because I had a conversation with beachblainers where I described this fic as “Your average rush line meet-cute. If meeting Sebasian could be described as ‘cute’ rather than ‘like meeting an angry porcupine’.” Thus, the title was born. (I also had several fic-derailing options for Adam’s nickname for Sebastian including ‘porcupine guy’ and ‘the human pineapple’ but I figured these options would be distracting. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
